Estonia's competition policy: a critical evaluation towards EU accession

Abstract

This paper sets out to answer two questions: to what extend is competition policy in Estonia - one of the applicant countries for accession to the European Union - a duplication of EU policy, and has Estonia established a true competition discipline with high public awareness of the rules and effective public and private enforcement? It is shown that although Estonian antitrust policy includes some additional features to the core EU rules - both with possible positive and negative welfare consequences - one can basically really speak of a copy of EU policy both with respect to legislation and enforcement provisions. Since the EU has a long and successful tradition of fighting competition-distorting conduct, this should weigh positively in the country''s application for accession. However, a real competition discipline is still lacking in Estonia. Higher public awareness, as well as a more stringent enforcement and especially sanctioning policy are necessary.